Cessna 208 - Your Views
 

My other post, I deleted by mistake [Comon, I spotted a spelling mistake and hit delete instead of editing]

Well what are your thoughts?

Mine... Simple a flippin excellent machine that hits the ground hard and keeps on running [expression they are a workhorse]

Don't get me wrong there has been snaufus as we iron out the aircraft so to speak the pilots love them, the passengers love them [especially when its parked up against a tired old Piper Chieftain]

Engineers love them for their simple access and low cost parts and best of all the owner makes a nice little turnover from them :}

Best Investment I will ever make :ok::ok:

I loved it as a passenger... Especially the noise on start up. But otherwise, I just found it comfortable and roomy enough with a good view (was on a scenic in the states).

Can't comment on it as a pilot - still only at PPL stage :( ... But hopefully I'll get the chance!

Don't know about the excellent machine part because i've never had any dealings in one
But as for hitting the ground hard and keeping on going, i've DEFINATELY seen that... he bent a main gear leg too.... lucky, another foot and both mains probably would have been ripped off.

My sentiments exactly. :ok: probably my favorite aircraft over all.

Good for you, and you shared it with us

As long as you don't want a mining contract yes.......

Awesome aircraft aside from the Single Engine bit.

Well, you did ask Dunnza.

Actually, I have flown several different vans on several separate mining contracts over a three year period, and I am led to believe that those contracts are still being operated, and still in vans.
I certainly didn't run into any opposition to the van being a single whilst negotiating mining contracts other than the associated IFR problems.

Seriously awesome machine, one that has made me want to stick around in GA a bit longer thats for sure.

I was pretty happy with the legacy setup but throw in the G1000 and wow its great. The wealth of information is fantastic and it really aids situational awareness far more than I thought it would.

On top of that the GFC700 autopilot kicks the arse of the cruddy old KFC225. She still hand flys the same though which I would describe as flattering of ones abilities.

Sorry to dissapoint... got two...

Started off with the freighter and one of the MD came to have alook, spotted the grand caravan asked for a quote and I walked away with the contract by the end of the week!

So got those pics yet Dunnza? Thought you'd forgotten about them all!!! I'd love to see them :)

+ 1 for pics :}

So you guys are telling me that a mining company flies in a single engine IFR passenger aircraft at night?? Well if that's true I have now seen it all!!:}:}

http://www.airwhitsunday.com.au/imag...er_landing.jpg

http://www.airwhitsunday.com.au/images/010.jpg

neville, from what I have heard seair pacific do a fortescue run most mornings in their caravan

Dunnza, I'd also like to see pics of your brand spanking new Caravans as well both inside and out. :ok:

Neville, SE IFR on mining contracts has been happening for at least a few years from what i've seen and heard.

Werbil I want to work there!:ok:

Thats if you can call it work!

That's good to hear some sort of sense coming from mining companies!! From my dealings with them they were totally against the idea, no further correspondence would be entered into.

However on saying all that ASEPTA is a mighty pain in the arse from a administrative point of view.

Pictures are coming... Unfortunately, seeing I am always head downs thumb up I very rarely get to see them!

P.S - Stop trying to guess which company it is... All will be revealed

Caravans Rock
 

I did a C208 rating about 18 months ago with the view to getting a job in Tanzania flying the same on RPT around the place and had been sent a very convincing offer to do so. The rating was the most fun I have had in a long, long time, stalling over the Cook Strait and assessing glide performance were a hoot, just like our Wellington arrival . It was bitterly cold (it snowed in Upper Hutt that night) and had a howling gale in Wellington all weekend that I thought may keep us on the ground but it did not.

To cut a long story short my job in Tanzania did not work out and I ended up back in Sudan again flying my crusty old LET 410 (another brilliant and indestructible machine!). The time came to leave Sudan and come home to New Zealand but there was no vehicle available to take me to the local 'airport' (Rumbek) some 60 km away from where we were based and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on my part as to how I would escape this part of the world (it was not the first time that this had happened). On the 2nd last sortie of my final day we landed in the LET 410 at our home base and I spotted a Caravan parked on the hospital apron next to our camp (I think 5Y-XLP was the registration). I immediately cornered our loadmaster and sent him down to the hospital to find out where this machine was going to next. He returned saying that it would return to Kenya, transfer it's pax and load onto another Caravan to Nairobi and that the head of the American mission had offered me the last remaining seat on this aircraft free of charge! So I eventually got a ride on a Caravan in the very last row of seats and had a most comfortable journey back to Nairobi along with my 50kg of baggage that would have been hit hard by the commercial operator I was supposed to depart on for excess baggage charges. I also managed to clear customs in Lokichoggio who cleared me and our broken weather radar with no hassle at all resulting in no duty charges at Nairobi and a very happy boss who met me...

RPP